Linux 3.19 Merge Window Closes Ahead Of Schedule

Linux 3.18 was released two Sundays ago and the 3.19 merge window opened immediately. Normally the merge window is open for 14 days before Linus Torvalds closes it and tags -rc1. With Linux 3.19, things are different.

Linus announced on Friday night that he's closing the merge window early for 3.19. Torvalds said that he's pulling the last of the pull requests on Saturday -- related to KBuild and the READ_ONCE split-up -- but is planning to then close the merge window.

Torvalds wrote, "In other words - if any of you were planning on sending some last-minute pull requests on the weekend before xmas, you had either have some seriously good excuses, or you can just say 'yeah, they weren't that critical, I'll do it in a timely manner _next_ merge window instead'. Just a heads up. You've been warned."

There's tons of changes to be found in the Linux 3.19 kernel as covered in dozens of articles in recent weeks. This weekend I'll write up my usual feature overview about the work that excites me for Linux 3.19.